Recent news in book retailing has stunned most observers of the publishing world, but Simba Information and the buyers of the Trends in Trade Book Retailing series have been ahead of the curve: this report series, now in its third year, has long predicted the challenges of Borders Group and other retailers and documented the price wars long before the first shot was fired.

Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2011 compiles national data on who is buying books and e-books, what they're buying and where they’re buying them, as well as detailed overviews of the major channels, how their market share is trending, and what outside factors are affecting each. The report provides a “scorecard” for each channel—bookstores, the Internet, book clubs, and “other”—and a demographic overview of the average consumer.

The report exhibits a trend unique to bookstores, which "subsidize" the e-book market by acting as a book showroom for nearly 10% of U.S. adults.

Simba compiled trusted nationally representative data from Experian Simmons for this analysis. The four channels are also ranked by the estimated number of customers, what formats they buy, and how many titles the consumers purchase and how things are trending in each channel now that e-books are part of the equation.

With the book retailing segment as challenged as it is, no publisher, retailer, or industry analyst can afford not to have this vital tool.